文学伦理学批评与道德批评

On Ethical Literary Criticism and Moral Criticism

从方法论的角度说,文学伦理学批评是在借鉴、吸收伦理学方法基础上融合文学研究方法而形成的一种用于研究文学的批评方法,不仅要对文学史上的各种文学描写的道德现象进行历史的辩证的阐释,而且要坚持用现实的道德价值观对当前文学描写的道德现象作出价值判断。欧洲的文学从荷马史诗开始其性质就是伦理的,因此古代希腊最早的文学批评采取了道德批评的立场,善恶的判断成了评价文学的基本标准。柏拉图从现实的道德观念出发批评作家和作品,并按照他当时的道德标准评价作家及其作品的好坏,因此他使用的是道德批评的方法。亚里士多德批评文学的观点接近我们提出的文学伦理学批评的观点。文学伦理学批评与道德批评的研究对象大体相同,但在研究方法、目的以及可能获得的结论上迥然不同,本文以《哈姆莱特》为例对此进行了充分阐释。另一方面,文学伦理学批评在视角上虽然基本上是历史主义的,但并不排斥结合新的理论和方法(如生态理论)从比较的角度去研究文学。

In terms of methodology, ethical literary criticism is an approach to literary criticism developed on the basis of the introduction of ethical methods and the assimilation of them into the texture of literary critical methods. It is used not only to interpret the moral phenomena recorded in literature on a historical and dialectic basis, but also to make value judgment of those in the present literature based on the moral values in the reality. In nature European literature since Homer＇ s epics is ethical and thus the earliest Greek literary criticism took the standpoint of moral criticism, of which the judgment of good and evil serves as the essential criterion. Plato tended to criticize literary works based on the moral values in the reality and to judge the quality of literary works according to the moral codes of his times, and thus he took an approach of moral criticism. Aristotle, however, took a different view of literary criticism that is closer to what we advanced as ＂ethical literary criticism＂ and Poetics is the great practice of literary criticism. But the ethical literary criticism is somewhat different from that of Greek literary theorists as it could take a new approach to Homer＇s epics and Greek tragedies. Generally speaking, ethical literary criticism is similar to moral criticism in the object of study, but is quite different from the latter in terms of research methods, objectives and the goals they may achieve respectively. This paper is to illustrate such differences through an analysis of Shakespeare＇ s Hamlet, in which the cause of Hamlet＇ s tragedy does not owe to his character and complex, but to his ethical dilemma, from the perspective of ethical literary criticism. On the other hand, ethical literary criticism, with basically a historical point of view, is still open to some contemporary theories and methods such as bio-criticism so as to form a comparative viewpoint in the study of literature.